Copperizing iron.



No Drawing.

UNITED sT-ArEs WILLIAM GEORGE CLARK, F GEELONG, VICTORIAQXUSTRALIA.

COPPERIZING IRON.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed Au ust is, 1908. Serial No. 449,088.

Patented Aug. 31, 1909.

- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVT LIAM GEORGE CLARK, a subject of the Kin of Great Britain, residing at Albert Cofl ee Palace, Geelong, in the State of Victoria, Commonwealth of Australia, metal worker, have invented a certain new and useful Im roved Method of Copperizing Iron, of which the following isa specification. L

This invention which is an improvement on the methods described in my priorUnited States patent, Number 885,668, granted April 21, 1908, and in my British patent, Number 10,763, of 1899, relates to the com mercial treatment of iron in any form whether as plates, bars, tubes, wires, chains, castings, forgings or otherwise whereby it is coated with copper or an. alloy thereof uniforml and of the desired thickness. The coating effected is free from pinholes or flaws of any description and the copper or alloy does not become brittle.

The main feature of the invention consists in the treatment on a commercial scale of heated iron with molten copper or alloy in the presence of a special flux consisting essentially of boracio acid, tartar and salammoniac, although it is preferred to employ as additional ingredients silica, washmg soda, borax, alum and n1ter.- If the copper is practically pure, a small proportion of zinc, tin lead or aluminum should be added. When using sal-ammoniac or niter the best results are obtained by sprinkling same directly on to the hot surface to be treated v Without restricting myself to definite proportions I would state the following as a thoroughly practical flux Boracic acid 15 parts. Tartar 13 parts. Sal-ammoniac 4 parts.

the other ingredients are added a suitable mixture is The heating of the iron and the maintenance of the copper in a molten state necesbut this forms no part of the present invention and many known forms of reverbera toryfuirnace may be employed or modified according to circumstances, or to the preference of the operator. The only necessary condition is that there shall be suflicient heat to maintain the copper in a molten state.

For convenience I will first describe my invention as applied to the treatment of iron in the form of wire. pickled in a mineral acid such assulfuric or hydrochloric diluted in water in propor tion of l of ordinary acid and 80f water and then immersed in a saturated copperas solution a. e. a solution of commercial blue-stone in sulfuric acid (8 to 10 lbs. bluestone, 5 gallons water and 1} gallon sulfuric acid) It is then dried and run into the furnace so thatit gets heated before entering the bath of molten copper on the hearth of the furnace and on the top of said molten bath the flux before mentioned floats and assists in preventing oxidation. The wire passes through the fiux and bath of molten copper bath and below the surface, and the wire then passes up again and out the other side of the receptacle containing the molten metal and out of the furnace to be wound on reels."

Similar treatment is observed with iron in the form of thin sheets, which are first raised to'a cherry heat in the furnace before immersion in the molten bath, and are preferably agitated slightly in the bath.

Iron in the form of tubes or rods undergoes the same treatment except that they, like the thin plates just mentioned, do not pass under a bridge or guide in the bath.

iron'on it, it is not pickled but it is'passed through or immersed in the solution of copperas.- Y

If theiron has a clean shining surface that it has been drawn, then the iron is pickled i. e. placed in a bath of sulfuric acid diluted with pater in proportion of about 1 of acid to 8 of water.

in the copperas solution it is dried, and then under a bridge or guide extending across the If the iron has a genuine rust-oxid of' such asurface as wire has owing to the fact sitates the employment of a' suitable furnace The wire is preferably 5 the iron is not pickled, then,- after immersion isprinkled with sand or a. mixture of sand and washing soda in the proportion of'16 to 7 cup or so of each of the latter to a bucket of charcoal). The plate isthen drawn out of the furnace and allowed to cool. The

amount of copper employed determines the.

thickness of the coating.

-The expression iron throughout this specification 'is used in its widest sense and includes cast and wrought iron and steel of all descriptions.

The expression cop erizing includes coating with a copper a1 0y or with a metal which will readily alloy with copper, such as silver or gold.

The proportions expressed are to be taken as illustrative and not arbitrary, and the word acid refers to the ordinary commerc1al commodity. I

Having now partlcularly descrlbed and asand in what manner the same is to be per- :.formed, I declare that what I claim is V 1. The method of copperizing iron, which consists in heating and immersing the iron in a bath of molten copper in the presence of a flux composed essentially of boracic acid, tartar, and sal-ammoniac.

2. The method of copperizing iron, which consists in heating and lmmersing the iron in a bath of molten copper in the presence ofa flux composed of boracic acid, tartar,'salcertained the nature of my said invention I ammoniac, silica, washing soda, borax, alum,

and niter. v p

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set iny hand in presence of two subscribing witnessesf Witnesses:

DAVID FYFE GRIFFITHS, ALFRED J AMES DAY.

WILLIAM GEORGE CLARK. f 

